The mysterious PAC that has spent nearly a half million dollars on the long-shot challenger to Fullerton Rep. Ed Royce turns out to be funded solely by the challenger's brother.

I wrote last week about the America Shining PAC and the high spending, nasty ad wars in the race. Campaign finance disclosures due Oct. 15 show that all of the PAC's money has come from Shaw Chen. He's the brother of Jay Chen, Royce's Democratic opponent in the tri-county 39th Congressional District.

PAC spending is prohibited by law from being coordinated with the candidate. While voter registration records show that the brothers live two blocks away from each other in Hacienda Heights, the campaign says Jay Chen knows nothing of his brother's activities.

"We are not surprised that Jay's brother really wants to help him win," said Chen campaign spokesman Sam Liu. "We understand all of the rules and have not coordinated whatsoever with the American Shining PAC."

Baloney, says Royce consultant Dave Gilliard.

"I find it beyond the bounds of credibility that Jay Chen's brother, who lives 500 feet from him, would on his own and without any involvement from Jay, write a check for over half a million dollars to a San Francisco-based Super Pac that came out of nowhere (and) has only one donor ... " Gilliard said.

Shaw Chen had put $565,000 in the PAC and as of Wednesday, had spent at least $479,000 on ads in the 39th District race. By comparison, Jay Chen had raised $513,000 from all of his direct donors combined, and added $126,000 of his own money to his campaign treasury. Jay Chen has spent $360,000 and after debts has $161,000 left, according to Monday's filings.

Royce, meanwhile, has spent $3.17 million and after debts has $1.28 million left. Liu criticized Royce for raising much of his money from PACs – 37 percent of his total funds, according to the most recent analysis by the Federal Elections Commission.

"We find it amusing that Ed Royce is so worked up about a PAC supporting Chen's campaign, when Royce has taken millions of dollars in PAC money directly from corporations who benefit from his votes," Liu said.

Republicans have an 8-percentage point advantage in voter registration in the district.

Scoring debate No. 2

Orange County Democrats were more impressed with Barack Obama's performance in Tuesday's debate than Republicans were with Mitt Romney's showing, according to an OC Political Pulse poll.

Among the 85 Democratic respondents, 90 percent said Obama either gained the lead (58 percent) or built on his advantage (32 percent) thanks to the debate. Another 4 percent said he maintained his lead, making 94 percent who think he leads in the race.

Among the 148 Republican respondents, 27 percent said Romney either gained the lead (3 percent) or built on his advantage (24 percent). Another 44 percent said he maintained his lead, making 71 percent who thinks he leads in the race.

That's a reversal of the poll's findings after the first presidential debate, when Republicans were far more pleased with their candidate than Democrats.

Among the 53 independent and third-party voters responding to the poll on Tuesday's debate, 29 percent said Obama either gained the lead (23 percent) or built on his advantage (6 percent). And 21 percent said Romney either gained the lead (4 percent) or built on his advantage (17 percent).

Nineteen percent of Republicans said the race remained a tossup, while just 6 percent of Democrats took that view.

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